ASPIDIUM MUNITUM. 

 CHAMISSO'S SHIELD-FERN. 



NATURAL ORDER, FILICES. 



AsPiDiUM MUNITUM, Kaulfuss. — Stem tufted, four to nine inches in length, strong straw-colored, 

 densely clothed especially below, with large glossy lanceolate scales; fronds one to two 

 feet long, four to eight inches broad ; pinnae close, three to four inches in length, three- 

 eighths to half an inch broad, the apex acuminate, the edge finely spinulose, serrated 

 throughout, the upper side auricled and the lower obliquely truncate at the base ; texture 

 sub-coriaceous; rachis generally scaly; veinlets fine, close; sori in two rows near the 

 edge. (Eaton's Ferns of North America.) 



|N Vancouver's celebrated voyage, Chamisso, the botanist 

 of the expedition, collected largely on the northwest 

 coast, and many of the ferns of that region especially were made 

 known to us through his labors. Kaulfuss, the German botanist, 

 who, in 1824, described the ferns of this collector, named this one 

 Aspidiwn miuiitiim. Professor Eaton well suggests that it may 

 commemorate the original collector in its popular name, and 

 hence we have "Chamisso's Shield-Fern." Aspidumi is from 

 aspidioii, a Greek word denoting a litde shield, which name was 

 suggested by the shield-like structure of the involucre or indu- 

 sium, as we may note in our Fig. 2. The specific name vmuitiun 

 may have been suggested by the munificent manner in which the 

 plant is furnished with scales, which in strong plants forms a very 

 striking character. The species is closely related to the Christ- 

 mas Shield-Fern of the Atlantic States, Aspidutni acrosticJioidcs. 

 This is also known to be very well clothed with chaffy scales, but 

 not near to the extent that the Aspidiwn mnuitwn is. 



In a dried specimen, before us as we write, collected by Dr. 

 Edward Palmer in southern California, the stipe at its junction 



(16,) 



